The TikTok experience refers to a user’s interaction with the platform while scrolling through various videos. The user can change what they are viewing instantly on one screen much like a TV viewer, the only difference being that whatever is being watched is in the form of short videos made specifically for the platform. These videos vary in style and form and are made to be viewed within the platform itself. All the content that a user watches within the (...) mobile application, in the end, forms a longer, theoretically never-ending, video that is sometimes completely unrelated but more often similar through shared jokes, memes, and visual filters. This way of producing and viewing short-form videos as a whole is reminiscent of the way Everything Everywhere All At Once feels to the audience which is no surprise as many other forms of media and artworks are inspired by internet short-form video platforms such as TikTok. (shrink)

_The present study delves into the sentiment analysis of Pakistani youth towards TikTok influencers, employing a mixed-methods research design. The data for the present study was collected using a questionnaire consisting of both open-ended and closed-ended items. The data was collected from Pakistani youth ranging from 15 to 30 years of age (timespan was from February 2023 to September 2023). The sample of the study were 300 Pakistani youth, comprising 41.1% males and 58.9% females. Statistical Package for Social Sciences (...) (SPSS-v20) was employed for descriptive statistics and Chi-Square test on quantitative data. While for sentiment analysis of qualitative data Azure Machine Learning add-on was used in Microsoft Excel for polarity categorization of sentiments. Chi-Square statistics revealed that the relationship between age group and following TikTok influencers was statistically significant (p=0.010) while there was no significant correlation between gender and following TikTok influencers (p= 0.421). While the qualitative analysis of the data i.e., content analysis revealed a wide spectrum of emotions and sentiments among the respondents, showcasing a varied significance of the TikTok influencers in shaping their thoughts, perceptions, and worldviews. The study offers both qualitative and quantitative insights to inform ongoing research in the realm of digital culture._. (shrink)

Purpose Online violence has been rampant in the past decade, intensifying the victims’ suffering owing to its rapid dissemination to vast audiences. This study aims to focus on online gender-based violence directed against young Bedouin women who have left their male-dominated home territory for academic studies. This study examined how the backlash against these students, intended to stop changes in traditional gender roles, is reflected in offensive TikTok videos. Design/methodology/approach This research is based on a qualitative-thematic analysis of 77 (...) questionnaires and 30 semistructured in-depth interviews with first-year female Bedouin students aged 18–21 years. Findings The backlash was widespread, with young Bedouin men using offensive videos as “proof” that women have violated codes of honor and morality. The videos exhibited four types of gender-based violence: claims of immoral behavior, aggressive captions that take the footage out of context, allegations of immodest clothing and digital photo editing that produced fabricated results. Examining participants' reactions to the videos, this study revealed two patterns of response: passive acceptance of the situation and an active approach that included reaching out to powerful Bedouin men for solutions. Originality/value This research enriches the literature on online gender-based violence, particularly against women in traditional societies, and suggests practical steps: developing online media literacy in traditional societies, adopting a proactive approach and nurturing social self-competence in women who have been victims of online gender-based violence. (shrink)

This paper examines the impact of TikTok on the public's understanding and engagement with psychiatric and psychological concepts. The rise of mental health-related content on social media has been linked to an increase in adults seeking a diagnosis of ADHD (Yeung et al., 2022). By reviewing a case study: the revision of the term "object permanence" from a developmental stage to an attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder symptom, I argue that a looping effect, modeled after Hacking (1999), can explain the pattern of (...) language revision for psychological terms on TikTok. Interviews with TikTok users provide preliminary evidence for this looping effect and the research is contextualized within the broader psychiatric discourse. (shrink)

A philosophical argument for more TikTok dancing.

The way we human beings approach the world has always been mediated. To be precise, it is mediated by interfaces. The starting point of this paper, therefore, will be to define, in the most general way possible, the interface. I will then focus mostly on the analysis of contemporary digital visual interfaces, and on how they changed the human way of perceiving. In the light of this analysis, I will highlight the “ideology” that spoils current interface design and allows contemporary (...) interfaces to “deceive” us much more than previous technologies did. The central part of the paper will be devoted to illustrating the peculiar way in which digital visual interfaces capture attention and predispose to courses of action. The case study provided by TikTok will help to explain this mechanism. Finally, I will point out the possible negative effects of ideological interfaces and I will review some possible solutions. (shrink)

Starting from its launch in China in 2016 as Douyin, the social media platform, TikTok, has become a worldwide success. According to a statistical report conducted in January 2022, TikTok is available in over 150 countries and 75 languages, and is the fastest growing social media application worldwide. As expected, such a phenomenon has given rise to a huge amount of scientific literature, spanning medical studies to sociology, psychology to communication, and computer studies to anthropology, while the peculiar (...) engagement TikTok arouses remains, at least to my knowledge, unaddressed. In this paper, I attempt to fill this gap by discussing the phenomenology of the TikTok experience and analyzing which kind of temporality and attention is constituted through such social media. I also analyze the educational import of the sheer, radical undergoing TikTok induces, putting forth the role of education in dealing with TikTok engagement. (shrink)

TikTok a changé ma vie. D’une part, en y passant trois heures par jour, j’y suis devenu presque addict. D’une autre part, TikTok m’a permis de me créer une audience à travers la création de vidéos courtes. Cette dualité consommateur-producteur est l’une des particularités de la plateforme. À travers des analyses formelles et mes expérimentations personnelles, cet article essaie de comprendre ce qui fait le succès et la puissance de TikTok.

TikTok has one of the most advanced algorithm systems and is the most addictive as compared to other social media platforms. While research on social media addiction is abundant, we know much less about how the TikTok information system environment affects users’ internal states of enjoyment, concentration, and time distortion, which in turn influences their addiction behavior. To fill this gap, this study collects responses from 659 adolescents in China aged between 10 and 19 years old, and the (...) data is then analyzed using Partial Least Square. We find that the system quality has a stronger influence than information quality in determining adolescents’ experience with TikTok and that the flow experience has significant direct and indirect effects on TikTok addiction behavior. Notably, this study finds that TikTok addiction is determined by users’ mental concentration on the medium and its content. Several theoretical insights from the stimulus–organism–response model and the flow theory are used to explain the findings. (shrink)

In this article, our objective was to analyze the emotions expressed regarding the Covid-19 vaccine in content published in Brazilian Portuguese on TikTok, a video sharing platform that has recently experienced global popularity. Our data set for this investigation was comprised of posts including the hashtag #vacina (vaccine), extracted using the Python TikTokAPI library. Emotions were identified and classified using standardized descriptors from the Human-Machine Interaction Network on Emotion (HUMAINE) and the Core Affect Model. Given the diversity of content (...) on TikTok, videos with emotional content were also separated into categories. Results revealed a prevalence of positive emotions such as contentment, enthusiasm, and interest regarding the vaccines, especially in videos of a personal and informative character. Negative emotions, such as doubt and disapproval, were associated with contextual and strategic factors, with significant expression in humorous and infotainment publications. (shrink)

In popular discussions, the nuances of AI are often abridged as “the algorithm”, as the specific arrangements of machine learning, deep learning and automated decision-making on social media platforms are typically shrouded in proprietary secrecy punctuated by press releases and transparency initiatives. What is clear, however, is that AI embedded on social media functions to recommend content, personalize ads, aggregate news stories, and moderate problematic material. It is also increasingly apparent that individuals are concerned with the uses, implications, and fairness (...) of algorithmic systems. Perhaps in response to concerns about “the algorithm” by individuals and governments, social media platforms utilize transparency initiatives and official statements, in part, to deflect official regulation. In the following paper, I draw from transparency initiatives and statements from representatives of Facebook and TikTok as case studies of how AI is embedded in these platforms, with attention to the promotion of AI content moderation as a solution to the circulation of problematic material and misinformation. This examination considers the complexity of embedded AI as a material-discursive apparatus, predicated on discursive techniques—what is seeable, sayable, knowable in a given time period—as well as the material arrangements—algorithms, datasets, users, platforms, infrastructures, moderators, etc. As such, the use of AI as part of the immensely popular platforms Facebook and TikTok demonstrates that AI does not exist in isolation, instead functioning as human–machine ensemble reliant on strategies of acceptance via discursive techniques and the changing material arrangements of everyday embeddedness. (shrink)

El presente artículo pretende problematizar el concepto de narcomarketing cuestionando su vigencia, explicando desde la perspectiva de los estudios culturales la producción de nuevos consumos digitales en la red social Tiktok donde surgen narrativas que refuerzan representaciones identitarias que se han creado en el imaginario del narcomundo. Partiendo de un sustento teórico sobre la definición de la narcocultura como cultura laboral y social, se utilizan los métodos de la netnografía y el análisis del discurso multimodal en el corpus seleccionado (...) de dos cuentas que transmiten las representaciones identitarias significadas y creadas del narcomundo en medios digitales. Se enfoca el estudio principalmente en el entramado de discursos de producción, tomando en cuenta de manera general las reacciones de recepción de los consumidores, problematizando así la pertinencia del uso del concepto narcomarketing como un aporte a los estudios de la narcocultura desde la perspectiva de los estudios culturales y de consumo digital, señalando que es necesario el trabajo interdisciplinario para estudiar dicha cultura. (shrink)

TikTok ha emergido como una plataforma dominante para la creación y difusión de contenido en redes sociales, cautivando a millones de usuarios, especialmente jóvenes. En este contexto, los políticos han empezado a utilizar TikTok para construir y proyectar su imagen pública, buscando acercarse a la ciudadanía de manera más directa y moderna, identificando las dinámicas, percepciones y efectos que esta plataforma genera en el comportamiento cívico y en la interacción de los ciudadanos con los líderes políticos locales. La (...) presente investigación analiza las estrategias digitales que emplean políticos cuencanos en la red social TikTok para convertir su cuenta en un canal de comunicación sólido y atrayente. La metodología que se empleó en la investigación fue mixta y de tipo relacional y corte transversal, ya que recopiló datos de una población o muestra en un tiempo concreto. Los resultados obtenidos evidenciaron de cómo el uso de la imagen política en la red social TikTok impacta en la participación ciudadana en Cuenca, Ecuador. En conclusión, la estrategia digital empleada por políticos de Cuenca en sus cuentas de TikTok posibilita el crecimiento de su audiencia y el posicionamiento de su marca personal. (shrink)

Purpose This paper aims to investigate the extent of personal privacy concerns expressed by university students in Vietnam while using TikTok, the influence of peer interactions and social norms on privacy attitudes and behaviors and the strategies used by university students in Vietnam to mitigate privacy risks on TikTok. Design/methodology/approach A qualitative approach using semi-structured interviews was used to gather data on the following: the degree to which Vietnamese university students express concerns about their personal privacy while using (...) TikTok; how peer interactions and social norms influence privacy attitudes and behaviors; and the strategies these students use to mitigate privacy risks on the platform. Findings Findings indicate that although university students exhibit a relatively low level of concern regarding their personal privacy on TikTok, peer influences and societal norms significantly shape their attitudes and behaviors on the platform. Moreover, students use several strategies to mitigate privacy risks, such as selective content sharing and refraining from engaging with unknown links. Practical implications These insights provide valuable implications for the development of targeted interventions and educational initiatives aimed at fostering a more privacy-conscious TikTok user community among university students in Vietnam. Originality/value This research fills a critical gap in the existing literature by focusing on the influence of social norms and peer influences on privacy attitudes and behaviors on social media platforms. While prior studies have explored various factors impacting privacy concerns on social media, the role of social dynamics has been understudied. Moreover, the research specifically addresses the lack of investigation into privacy concerns on TikTok, a platform rapidly gaining popularity among younger demographics. (shrink)

The pandemic and subsequent wave of lockdowns in many countries led to a massive increase in TikTok users globally, boosting the platform’s public significance. Even if TikTok’s political potential is already established, the platform still lacks a theoretical underpinning as a space for action. Using both a political-philosophical as well as a techno-philosophical perspective, I seek to discuss and substantiate TikTok’s potential as a public realm that enables political action. Due to the unique algorithmic logic of this (...) app, I argue that users are acting-with the algorithm when engaging in political action from home: be it in the form of national political protest or international acts of care and empowerment. I base my analysis on philosophical theory, cross-disciplinary TikTok research, and my own experiences on TikTok during the pandemic years. (shrink)

Los referentes que durante milenios han guiado a la humanidad hacia las cotas más altas de virtud están siendo reemplazados por la mediocridad de algunos influencers que venden éxito sin esfuerzo, mensaje sin sustancia y felicidad efímera. Sin embargo, la capacidad de transformación y elevación de modelos como el de Aquiles no puede ser sustituida por los famosos de las redes sociales. Eduardo Infante acude a los grandes filósofos del mundo clásico para destacar la vigencia de la virtud, una cualidad (...) que da sentido a nuestras vidas. El autor se pregunta cómo alcanzarla y transmitirla a las futuras generaciones, si es un don innato o si podemos aprenderla. Un libro de referencia para alumbrar un futuro más humano en el que vivamos con propósito. (shrink)

In the short video application scenario, self-disclosure helps to establish and maintain relationships with others, and is important for the formation of mass trust. To this end, this study investigates the impact of self-disclosure on mass trust in the context of short video applications based on social exchange theory, and introduces perceived similarity to explain the specific impact mechanism while focusing on the boundary conditions of trust disposition in it. This study takes TikTok as the research object and analyzes (...) the data obtained from the questionnaire survey. The empirical test results show that self-disclosure not only affects mass trust directly, but also indirectly through perceived similarity. In addition, a moderating effect of trust disposition on perceived similarity was found to affect mass trust. The findings of this paper contribute to an in-depth understanding of the potential intermediate mechanisms and boundary conditions of self-disclosure on mass trust, reveal the theoretical relationship between self-disclosure and mass trust, bridge the gap between previous mechanisms of mass trust influence from the perspective of empirical research, and effectively guide the management practice of short video applications. (shrink)

La investigación analiza el ingreso del Jefe de Gobierno de Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires a TikTok durante la pandemia. Esta red social representa una novedad para la política, lo que la convierte no solo en un territorio a explorar sino y, fundamentalmente, en un nuevo espacio a conquistar. Desde el punto de vista conceptual, la investigación recupera, por un lado, las discusiones teóricas de la sociología política vinculada a la estructura de oportunidades y, por otro, los desarrollos de (...) la teoría de la comunicación que buscan echar luz sobre el fenómeno del infoentretenimiento. El trabajo se configura como un estudio de caso. Como esta metodología posibilita la utilización de distintas técnicas de recolección de datos y análisis, se ha optado por la triangulación de datos primarios y secundarios. Se utilizaron dos técnicas de recolección de datos: encuesta con cuestionario estructurado, a través del formato IVR, y recolección manual de información del perfil en TikTok. Dentro de los principales hallazgos, se destaca, por un lado, que los usos que les dieron los habitantes del Área Metropolitana de Buenos Aires a las redes sociales durante el contexto pandémico y las opiniones políticas de los usuarios de TikTok fueron los factores determinantes que le permitieron al Jefe de Gobierno porteño ingresar muy cómodo a la plataforma; y, por otro, que en todas las publicaciones de su cuenta se excluye el contenido formal y serio y se lo reemplaza por formatos cercanos a la informalidad, la simplicidad, la emocionalidad y el humor. (shrink)

This article considers the relationship between research and pedagogy in Isis from the perspective of undergraduate teaching. Isis does not think of itself primarily as an organ for supporting education in the history of science, yet contributions to Isis are found across undergraduate syllabi, classrooms, and curricula. This essay makes a start at documenting and exploring some of the ways in which Isis is already being used in undergraduate educational contexts and suggests several ways in which Isis might further support (...) the goal of welcoming new learners in our field. Drawing on the authors’ experience co-teaching an introductory history of science lecture course and on the results of an informal survey of instructors of similar courses at other US institutions, we aim to engage conversations about the past, present, and future of the journal as it relates to the educational mission of our field. (shrink)

Поводом для составления очередного сборника моих публикаций являются две знаменательные даты: первая из них — двадцатилетие основания моего журнала, покончившего с академическим абсолютизмом, и вторая — десятилетие Конституции общности Русь, отменившей политический деспотизм демократии. Всё остальное, написанное, сказанное, и показанное публике индустрией массового оглупления в этом году, произведено лишь с целью сокрытия истины. Поскольку это в принципе невозможно, то злоумышленникам остаётся только лгать, посредством чего производимый ими мусор они выдают за заслуживающую доверия и жизненно важную информацию, позиционируя себя в качестве (...) неподкупных эталонов достоверности и этичности. Если же отбросить несомый ими в массы вздор, то открывающуюся взору неприглядную картину происходящего можно описать следующим образом: потребители информационного мусора предстают в ней нищебродами на мусорной свалке, в производство которого они вовлечены средствами массового обмана. В продолжении этих двух декад, о которых здесь идёт речь, к прежним фабрикам мусора добавились новые, среди которых TikTok и Telegram Messenger, а с недавних пор в производстве мусора произошёл настоящий технологический прорыв, так что дело, начатое лжецами, теперь продолжают разговорные машины (chatbots). -/- Конечно, позорная профессия мусорщика, навязанная искусственному интеллекту, вряд ли может считаться его призванием. Поскольку ложъ — самое разрушительное оружие, то злоупотребление плодами человеческого разума для лжи и разрушения не ново. В продолжение дурной традиции прошлого, бездари и дураки и на этот раз намереваются превратить благо во зло. Но я не позволю им осуществить их намерения, и в этом мне поможет искусственный интеллект, пусть ещё несовершенный, но уже способный содействовать достижению поставленной цели — очищению Авгиевых конюшен по методу, предложенному уже в античные времена. -/- Автор. (shrink)

From psychotherapist and TikTok personality Dr. Annie Zimmerman comes a toolkit to transform yourself and your relationships, with advice on how to heal past trauma, build sustainable connections, and take ownership of your mental health. Every day, psychotherapist Dr. Annie Zimmerman meets clients in her private London practice who are struggling with their lives. They're committed to achieving personal growth, making changes--but they're struck at the question stage. They ask: Why can't I sleep? Why do I keep going back (...) to a bad relationship? Why did I lose my temper? What is wrong with me? Here's the answer: nothing is wrong with them. It's just that they're asking themselves the wrong questions. In Your Pocket Therapist, Dr. Zimmerman helps readers delve into their past to identify old, unhelpful patterns and teach them how to unlock the present. The book combines practical tools with anecdotes gleaned from the therapy room, distilling complex psychological concepts with her signature warmth and empathy. Her belief--galvanized by her hundreds of thousands of followers--is that if we learn to understand the roots of our suffering, we can bring about meaningful--and permanent--change in our lives. It comes down to learning how to ask the right questions. A brilliant, necessary toolkit for those who want to break free from past patterns and embrace a life of abundant self-awareness and connection, Your Pocket Therapist is an absolute must-read in the field of psychology. (shrink)

(The Kindle book can be ordered for $3.21 from Amazon) -/- Thinking is a fundamental activity of our species – those that give names to other creatures and call themselves humans. Textbooks tell us that there is about 1.2 kg of matter called the brain inside the human body. It sounds small but actually is proportionally the biggest among all animals on Earth. -/- I became more aware of thinking at around 5th grade upon hearing about an ancient paradox. It (...) can be summarized as follows. -/- ¤ -/- Once upon a time, there was a stupid king. In his kingdom lived a sage who was highly respected for his intelligence. The King did not appreciate this fact. Maybe the Sage made fun of the King’s intellect, but I am not so sure. Anyway, one day, the King summoned the Sage, intending to kill him. -/- The King said, “Wise man, I heard you earn a living by thinking and arguing. Now I give you two options to die.” -/- The Sage said, “Please tell me the choices, Your Majesty.” -/- The King continued, “You live by your tongue, so I will let you say one sentence before you die. If what you say is true, you will die by hanging. If what you say is false, you will die by beheading.” -/- Little did the King know that this was a stupid order. After a short while, the Sage confidently spoke his “last words”, which actually were what saved his life: -/- “Your Majesty, I am about to be beheaded!” -/- ¤ -/- As a “wild animal” going out into life from a young age, my brain spent a lot of time and energy looking for food. Now that I have become older, my body no longer needs so much sustenance. However, my mind craves a different type of nourishment: food for thought. -/- Food for thought can directly lead to food (on the table). My main job as a scientist exemplifies what I have just stated. Maybe we were wrong. Maybe it has been “thought for food” all along, like in such a sequence as TFFTTTFTFFTTFFFT... -/- In the hyper-chaotic infosphere today, we are surrounded by the noises of information, not only as wavy shores or waterfalls but also mega-tsunamis, through Twitter, Facebook, Tiktok, Instagram, Youtube, etc. More than ever, tranquility and calmness are necessary. Like what you have seen in wilderness video clips, predators such as lions, bears, and alligators act lightning-fast when catching prey. But when food is served, the natural world returns to its peaceful, soothing silence. -/- This short book is in its own tidy infosphere, where each little story is also brief and self-contained. Despite this small appearance, I hope the content inside carries the value of tranquility and life observation. The book is petite, but pretty sure not malnourished. A not-too-small detail is that the way the content was shaped and distilled reflects some innovations of mine and my research team: the mindsponge theory, a new theory of serendipity, the bayesvl R package, the BMF analytics, as well as other experiences from working in the field of science. After all, scientific works were my main source of food (before this book sells well – if it does). -/- Welcome to the priceless sober moments – with a chicken-burger price tag! -/- I hope this book will bring readers some moments of calmness, peaceful smiles, and maybe a couple of good laughs too. -/- ~~~ -/- *This update: December 12, 2023 (Third edition, with additions). (shrink)

Social attachment can explain well the bond between users and social media, but existing research lacks measures of social attachment scales. To this end, this study takes attachment theory as the basis for scale development. On the basis of the development of multidimensional scales for adult, brand, and local attachment, it combines existing relevant studies on social attachment, selects three representative social media such as TikTok, WeChat, and MicroBlog as theoretical samples, explores the concept and structure of social attachment, (...) and develops a social attachment scale through qualitative interviews and open-ended questionnaires. This study applied SPSS 24.0 and Mplus 7.0 to test the social attachment scale. The findings reveal that social attachment consists of three constructs: social connection, social dependence and social identity, and the scale possesses high reliability and validity. This study has developed and validated a social attachment scale in the context of social software use, realizing a quantitative study of social attachment and providing a basis for future empirical research related to social attachment. (shrink)

Previous studies have reported that general or photo-specific social media use was associated with women’s body dissatisfaction and body image disturbance. The current study replicated and expanded upon these findings by identifying the positive association between social media influencer viewing and intentions to change appearance. This study surveyed a sample of 7,015 adult female TikTok users in China regarding their social media influencer viewing frequency, self-objectification, social comparison tendencies when watching short videos, intentions to change appearance, and demographics. The (...) results showed that female TikTok users’ self-objectification mediated the association between their influencer viewing frequency and their intentions to change appearance. Furthermore, social comparison tendencies moderated the association between influencer viewing and intentions to change appearance in that the proposed association was stronger for female TikTok users who had lower social comparison tendencies when watching short videos, compared to female TikTok users who had higher social comparison tendencies. The counter-intuitive finding on social comparison tendencies indicated that women who have higher social comparison tendencies may be more aware of the negative influences and adjust their expectations. The observed association between social media influencer viewing and intentions to change appearance was statistically significant but trivial in terms of effect size. Although the result could warn policymakers and practitioners to design media and health literacy campaigns to cultivate body positivity, caution should be exercised when evaluating the practical implications. (shrink)

Privacy concerns can effectively predict behavioral intention between users and short-form video platforms, but existing studies lack of multidimensional scales to measure privacy concerns towards short-form video platforms. To this end, this study took privacy concerns theory as the theoretical foundation to develop and validate a multidimensional privacy concerns scale in short-form video platforms by referring to the development of Smith, Milberg and Burke' multidimensional scale of concerns for information privacy, Sheehan and Hoy's multidimensional scale of privacy concerns, Malhotra, Kim (...) and Agarwal's Internet users' information privacy concerns scale, and Hong and Thong's Internet privacy concerns multidimensional scale. In this research, three representative short-form video platforms, TikTok, Kuaishou and Xigua, were selected as research samples. The multidimensional privacy concerns scale was refined by qualitative interviews and open-ended questionnaires et al. and tested by item analysis, exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, and discriminant validity et al. The results show that the privacy concerns scale towards short-form video platforms consists of three dimensions: collection concerns, awareness concerns, and usage concerns. And the multidimensional scale developed in this study has good reliability, convergent validity, and content validity, which can help guide short-form video platforms to take targeted measures to manage privacy concerns in business practices and provide a basis for future empirical studies on privacy concerns. (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:Sense and Sensibility: IARPT’s Four Existential OrientationsWilliam David Hart (bio)I. Introduction: IARPT’s Liberal HorizonThe concerns of the Institute of American Religious and Philosophical Thought are worlds apart from the preoccupations that animate the characters in Jane Austen’s novels. This is not to say that IARPT is disinterested in romance, love, and heartbreak. It is to say, rather, that Sense and Sensibility, the title of Austen’s 1811 novel, is a (...) good cover term for the matters that I wish to address. I say this despite the fact that many characters in the novel, especially Fanny Dashwood, are insufferable members of a British ruling class that, along with its wealth-hording, patriarchy-sustaining institution of primogeniture, needed to be expropriated by the working class. I say this despite the fact that the sensibility of the British aristocracy, as is true of all aristocracies, is off-putting. With this proviso, it is precisely the sense and sensibility of the Institute (the love, romance and, perhaps, tragedy) that I wish to survey through a focus on what I take to be its animating existential concerns. I call these orientations existential rather than merely intellectual because they go beyond ideas, professional commitments, and implicate the entire range of life dispositions. These orientations are habit-forming.Constitutive of these orientations are anxieties regarding the meaning and significance of those things for which we live and die. The sheer fact of consciousness, of conscious matter, of matter conscious of its consciousness and the wonder and awe this inspires as we consider the very existence of things is part of our existential ensemble too. For some of us wonder and awe before the groundless gratuity of existence, let’s call this ontological curiosity, compete with death anxiety and its intimations for preeminence in how we imagine the meaning and significance of our life. This is not a binary matter. For some people, perhaps for most, the joy of existence larded as it is with terrible things exceeds, as the case make be, the quiet desperation, sorrow, or terror, and the emptiness at the center of all things. My exploration focuses on the anxieties rather than the curiosity. I take it for granted that the deep source of anxiety is mortality and its various intimations. Our quest for lives of meaning and significance is threatened by the “horrid d’s”1 of death, disease, dread, despair, [End Page 5] and disappointment. Various thinkers have theorized how we cope with this anxiety. Some argue that denial is a dominant way of dealing with death, which they take to be foundational to the other meaning and significance-threatening phenomena.2 Where the answers to these threats provided by traditional religions are found lacking or otherwise no longer credible, denial expresses itself in the form of various immortality projects: typically, the puritanical, maniacal, and methodical pursuit of health and wealth, in consumerism of all kinds, from the hottest new diet, to a Peloton exercise bike, to a Tesla. And then there is the pursuit of fame and celebrity, which many people can no longer distinguish, the hope, captured so well in the theme song for the television series, Fame. “Fame / I’m going to live forever / Baby, remember my name.”3 We want to be remembered. Whether by future generations or, inside the digital clouds of Instagram or TikTok, or, as some would have it, within the consequent nature of God. Of course, for some populations, death is not so easily denied. Death has an in their face immediacy, insistence, and oppugnancy that rips through flesh and leaves its subject not merely anxious but dead. I speak, for example, of the mind-numbing repetitiveness with which police kill Black people. Or the myriad ways, including environmental racism, in which Blacks are subject to premature death. Some thinkers even theorize that death is the existential horizon for Black people in an ontologically distinctive way.4 Thus the March 2020 police-raid killing of Breonna Taylor in her home may be a statistical anomaly but is experienced as a monstrous revelation of the nature of things, of Black social life as social death. This is not a... (shrink)

ABSTRACT This paper scrutinizes the nature and scope of deleterious consequences arising from the pursuit of unattainable pedagogical exemplars on social media. We cash out this phenomenon using exemplarist theory to emphasize the fact that social media (e.g., Facebook, Instagram, TikTok) are platforms in which the vast majority of users present idealized and curated versions of themselves. We focus specifically on educational practitioners and show that attempting to emulate unattainable pedagogical exemplars has negative impacts on agents’ emotional well-being: It (...) can cause burnout and self-conflict, decrease motivation, and also inflict detrimental outcomes on agents’ self-esteem. We conclude that attainable, relevant, relatable, and authentic exemplars are key to a successful exemplarist approach and that safeguarding against unattainable pedagogical exemplars is of paramount importance for the wellbeing of pedagogues, and by extension, the success of educational systems. (shrink)

In this article, we provide a philosophical and ethical reflection about quiet quitting as a tool of political resistance for nurses. Quiet quitting is a trend that gained traction on TikTok in July 2022 and emerged as a method of resistance among employees facing increasing demands from their workplaces at the detriment of their personal lives. It is characterised by employees refraining from exceeding the basic requirements outlined in their job descriptions. To understand why quiet quitting can be a (...) tool of resistance useful for nurses, we first draw on Frédéric Gros' concept of ‘surplus obedience’ and Michael Lipsky's notion of ‘routines and simplification strategies’ to highlight the ethical implications associated with nurses engaging in and sustaining harmful systems, such as the neoliberal healthcare system. Leaning again on Gros, we then propose that ‘obedience a minima’, a concept akin to quiet quitting, can serve as a method of ethical nursing resistance. After describing what the concept entails, we provide a discussion emphasising the potential of obedience a minima as a one method, among many, that can be leveraged by nurses to challenge and resist a system that prioritises financial considerations over patient wellbeing. The article concludes by reflecting on the ethical nature of resistance in the context of nursing, that is the act of obeying oneself and refraining from participating in systems that are detrimental to the lives of Others. (shrink)

This article examines the phenomenon of epistemic injustice within the global social media landscape, using Southeast Asia as a case study. It explores how X (formerly known as Twitter) holds the potential to cultivate a digital public sphere that embodies justice and equitable dialogue, compared with major platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok. Beginning with an introduction to epistemic injustice, the article contextualizes its significance in Southeast Asia, highlighting the region’s digital challenges and opportunities. It then proposes characteristics necessary (...) for ideal social media platforms, drawing on Habermas’s public sphere and Rawls’s justice principles to advocate for spaces that promote inclusive and rational discourse. The core analysis centers on X, suggesting that its features could make it a superior choice for fostering a just digital environment globally. The article recommends specific improvements for X to evolve into an ideal social platform, addressing challenges such as cyberbullying, echo chambers, and misinformation. The conclusion emphasizes the importance of prioritizing epistemic justice in social media platforms to achieve a more inclusive and fairer digital public sphere, with Southeast Asia serving as a representative example of a less-than-ideal environment where such platforms could thrive. (shrink)

El trabajo tiene como objetivo explorar la formación profesional de los docentes desde una filosofía transdisciplinar, para promover la comprensión del mundo por una ciudadanía que debe enfrentar el cambio global del Antropoceno. A partir de una metodología cualitativa, se explora y analiza la evolución del comercio internacional en los últimos siglos, así como su relación con la extinción de la biodiversidad planetaria, el cambio climático y la salud de nuestro planeta. Se trata de un ensayo filosófico que aborda las (...) áreas de economía, comercio internacional, geopolítica, inteligencia artificial y formación docente desde los fundamentos epistemológicos de la metodología transdisciplinar de Nicolescu y la Teoría de la Complejidad de Morin. Como resultado, se discute cómo las TIC, software y aplicaciones (twitter, facebook, instagram, tiktok, etc.) recolectan los datos personales de los usuarios mediante algoritmos matemáticos usados por la inteligencia artificial. Se concluye que la formación transdisciplinar contribuye a la creación de escuelas regenerativas que enseñan a los estudiantes a actuar críticamente frente al cambio global actual. (shrink)

In recent years, we have witnessed increased interest in alternatives to the dominant corporate social media sites, such as Facebook, Twitter (now X), and TikTok. Tired of disinformation, harassment, privacy violations, and the general degradation of platforms, users and technologists have looked for non-corporate alternatives. Not-for-profit social media platforms emerging from free/libre and open-source software (FLOSS) communities based on non-centralized infrastructure have emerged as promising alternatives. For applied epistemology of the internet, these alternative social media platforms present an opportunity (...) to study different ways of producing knowledge together online. This paper evaluates the epistemic potential for such alternative, non-corporate social media. I present an epistemological framework for analyzing the epistemic promises and perils of alternative social media. Then I apply this framework to the case of Mastodon, a federated, open-source microblogging platform. Mastodon’s structure and culture of openness present opportunities to avoid many of the epistemic perils of biased and untrustworthy large corporate platforms. However, Mastodon’s risks include techno-elitism, white ignorance, and isolated, epistemically toxic communities. (shrink)

Las redes sociales pueden promover una estigmatización, cuando las usuarias comparten sus ideas, opiniones, manifestaciones y cuerpos. El estigma crea una “burbuja de la melancolía”, concepto original de esta propuesta: consumen publicaciones con problemas similares, no denuncian el odio, no piden ayuda y no perciben los peligros de las redes. Los algoritmos no ayudan y sugieren contenidos negativos y pesimistas, que las mantienen en una esfera de tristeza. Este artículo realiza una exploración deontológica de las normas comunitarias de las redes (...) sociales Facebook, YouTube, Instagram y TikTok, para saber si se contempla este problema y de ser así, cómo se combate. (shrink)

This paper considers in conceptual terms the extent to which pre-service teachers’ disengagement with philosophy of education might usefully be explained in terms of the mistaken charge of (1) ‘epistemic trespassing’ frequently levelled against philosophers of education. This cohort charge philosophers of education with being ultracrepidarians—those who proffer opinions on subjects that they know nothing about. Contra this view, I argue that casting philosophers as epistemic trespassers—lofty theorists with nothing meaningful to contribute to professional practice—is a wrongful charge, or ‘epistemic (...) vice’, based on a series of epistemic mistakes. These, individually and collectively, lead to a series of troubling costs in terms of impoverished professional formation and practice. To diagnose a plausible explanatory account of this phenomenon, I briefly turn to what I consider the main causes of this misattribution—more precisely—the four secondary category mistakes pre-service teachers make. Naturally a qualification is required. I contend these epistemic mistakes can rightfully be attributed to *some pre-service teachers in such determinations, which include: (2) misunderstanding standpoint epistemology (SE) in terms of automatic privilege being coextensive with first-personal authority (FPA); (3) overestimating the added value of deliberate/rational ignorance; (4) misguided intellectualist views of skills and expertise; and, (5) uncritical technicist attempts to emulate TikTok Exemplars with the allure of ‘Insta results’. (shrink)

Studies suggested that emotion dysregulation and identity processes are involved in social media (SM) misuse, even if their proximal role has not been investigated. Previous studies rarely discriminated between specific activities or between types of SM. We recruited 50 young adults and implemented a momentary ecological assessment measurement. Four times by day, during seven days, we measured SM use, frequency of several activities on SM, emotion dysregulation, distress and clarity of self-concept. Daily time spent on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok (...) were retrieved from devices. Intradaily changes in emotion dysregulation and clarity of self-concept predict changes in SM addiction symptoms and frequency of use according to the type of activity. Daily changes in time spent on SM were not predicted by emotion dysregulation, distress and self-concept clarity. Findings suggest that emotion dysregulation and poor self-concept clarity are proximal risk factors for SM misuse. (shrink)

Extensive social media usage causes psychological dependence and impacts people’s self-evaluations. It is vital to seek possible buffers to social media addiction’s detrimental effect on self-esteem and body image. Poland has one of the highest scores on problematic social media usage. Past studies pointed to narcissism and self-compassion as possible mediators of such effects. The present study aimed to explore Polish individuals’ (N=527) social media usage habits. We hypothesised gender differences and social media addiction predictive effect on self-evaluations (self- esteem, (...) body image), with narcissism and self-compassion as mediators of such relationships. The results revealed that only visual media (Facebook, Instagram, TikTok) had a negative effect on self-evaluations and that women reported more social media addiction and decreased self-esteem, self-compassion and body image. Social media addiction was negatively predicting body image for both genders and self-esteem for women but not for men, with self-compassion and narcissism mediating such relationships. (shrink)

Este artigo aborda as questões de regulação de mercados com foco em dois países: China e Estados Unidos da América, ambos influentes na condução de cenários políticos, econômicos, tecnológicos e sociais. O objetivo da pesquisa é demonstrar, por meio da revisão dos dois maiores sistemas econômicos – capitalismo e socialismo – como os aplicativos chineses WeChat e TikTok suscitaram conflitos em prol da regulação de mercados que utilizam inovações tecnológicas. A pesquisa adotou o método dedutivo e bibliográfico, por meio (...) de documentação indireta. Conclui-se que os conflitos eram mais ideológicos-políticos do que jurídicos-normativos. (shrink)

You've seen the memes and quotes everywhere-from Reddit to TikTok-but what is stoicism really about? Stoicism 101 teaches you everything you need to know about this influential philosophy-from its key figures (including Epictetus, Seneca the Younger, and Marcus Aurelius), to its key principles (virtue, mindfulness, and the dichotomy of control). This easy-to-read guide uses engaging, straightforward lessons to teach you all the important stoic concepts. Whether you are new to stoicism or have been studying it for some time, in (...) this book you'll find quick, thorough, easy-to-understand explanations of stoic philosophies and practices such as mastering desires and emotions, cultivating character and virtue, learning self-acceptance, dealing with criticism and adversity, practical exercises for achieving happiness, and more. (shrink)

This creative-critical piece reflects on the practices of recording, communicating, and caring that took place on social media and in digital spaces during the COVID-19 pandemic. Using my own experience of contracting COVID-19 as a starting point, the piece looks at the ways in which epidemics have often been recorded in collaborative ways, with the personal, professional, and familial converging in historical texts that could be used as sources of medical authority. COVID-19 has similarly been immortalized across a variety of (...) forms and by different communities. The piece particularly explores the ways in which collective epidemic experience has been represented online through autopathographical Tweets, TikTok cures, and group chat messages and the future purposes that such collaborative patient narratives can serve. (shrink)

This article deploys Spinoza’s ethic of joy alongside Deleuze and Guattari’s exposition of micropolitics to expose how fascist desires and affects bloom and circulate through digital communications ecosystems that generally promote a diffusion or decentralisation of power. Beyond the steady barrage of alt-right content conscientiously documented by liberal journalists and progressive watchdogs, a more persistent and widespread fascist impulse permeates the very forms of some of our most banal digitally mediated acts and encounters. Rather than a sole looming authoritarian figurehead, (...) the network itself – particularly with the new image paradigms propelled by apps such as Instagram and TikTok – has become the rallying point for the circulation of fascistic affects, burnished through the art and ethos of following: of rules, routines, protocols, accounts. I contend that a joyful passion accompanies much of this everyday experience of keeping up with one’s feeds, engaging the platforms, participating in the spectacles. This is what Sontag, interrogating the appeal of the Third Reich, calls the ‘joy of followers’, a joy in fascist belonging, which is to suggest that fascist movements thrive not only on the circulation of negative affects like hatred and fear, but also on the profusion of pleasure and affiliation. Deleuze’s Spinoza, resolutely anti-fascist, helps us parse this situation as it plays out in the social media sphere. Spinoza offers a bipartite conceptualisation of joy that allows us to diagnose the pleasures particular to fascist belonging and network belonging alike as passive, partial and indirect. Ultimately, what we today share with historical fascisms is a ubiquitous aesthetic that merges art with life and bodies with information, and a corresponding ethos that cultivates conformism, barbarises critical thought and redirects joyful impulses into reactionary social forms. As fascistic power relations spread anew through digital cultures’ newly evolving modes of visuality, hapticity, vibration and expression, one can observe something of what Deleuze calls ‘sad joy’, a sort of joy rooted in conquest and domination. The aim of this article is to root out such sad joys, to appreciate their appeal, and ultimately to reject them in all their various forms. (shrink)

Finding happiness within the inevitable chaos of the world is one of the hardest things you can do. It's also one of the most important. There are lots of challenges in your life, occupying space in your mind and keeping you anxious, depressed, or angry. Mental health TikToker and licensed therapist TJ Hoegh outlines his three rules for chaotic happiness, helping you rise above the fray and claim the contentedness that is yours. With evidence-based advice and more than 30 practical (...) exercises, you'll explore your own psyche, improve the quality of your relationships, and understand the impact of the outside world so you can arrive at your happiest self. (shrink)